Shimla and several other parts of Himachal Pradesh were lashed by hailstorm, accompanied by light rains leading to a drop in mercury in higher reaches of the state Wednesday.
A hailstorm hit Shimla and some other parts of the state this evening while dark Convective clouds and overcast sky reduced the visibility to a few meters.
Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul and Spiti valleys, Keylong, Gaushal Hill, Baralacha, Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra and Kinner and Shrikhand Kailesh in Kinnuar had another spell of moderate snowfall.
Tourist resort Manali, which was lashed by storm got 13 mm of rains while Bhuntar and Shimla had 2 mm and 1 mm rains.
Report from Keylong said that Election Commission conducted special sorties by chopper yesterday to transport election material and machinery to snowbound tribal areas.
The weather was mainly dry till the afternoon but soon thick clouds overcast the sky and stormy conditions prevailed.
Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti districts recorded minimum temperatures at minus 4.1 deg C and 2.4 deg C while key tourist resort of Manali recorded minimum temperature at 4.0 deg C, followed by Solan, Dalhousie and Sundernagar 8.0 deg C, Bhuntar, Palampur and Una? 9.0 deg C, Chamba, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Mandi 10.0 deg C and Dharamshala, Kangra and Nahan at 12.0 deg C.
Kalpa recorded maximum temperature at 14 deg C, while Manali?recorded a high of 17 deg C, followed by Shimla 18 deg C, Bhuntar 21 deg C, Dharamshala 22 deg C, Kangra 23 deg C, Sundernagar and Solan 24 deg C, Una 26 deg C and Nahan 27.5 deg C, a drop of two to four degrees since yesterday.
The Met office has predicted rain or snowfall at isolated place in higher and mid hills during next 48 hours.